Paddling season hots up
The river race season is in full swing while the currents are gentle and mild and river levels low.
This period enables newer paddlers to master basic river skills, as competitors begin training for the major A grade river races in Spring when the rains swell the rivers.
Victoria Lake Canoe Club hosted a Berg training race on the Klip River from Daleside to Three Rivers in Vereeniging, on Saturday 14 June 2014.
The 40km Chilli Bite race was a preparation race for those paddlers training for the annual 220km four-day Ultra Marathon event on the Berg River. The race is the longest canoe race in South Africa and takes place in the middle of the wet and windy cold Cape winter from Paarl to the West Coast in July.
Megan Hedderwick, who hails from Natal where she learned to paddle on the Dusi River, has partnered up with Parkmore resident, Lindsay Hopkins – they are both now members of the Dabulamanzi Canoe club at Emmarentia Dam.
Hedderwick and Hopkins were the only ladies double to complete the long, tough Chilli Bite, finishing in 4:4:00.
Hopkins is working on earning grading points towards qualification for A grade status, as well as training for the Fish River Marathon in October. She is still a relatively new paddler on rivers.
Despite the two swims at shallow, rocky, fast-flowing rapids, the ladies were pleased with their achievement on the chilly wintery day.
The race, which provided hot soup or hot chocolate to all finishers afterwards, attracted 23 single canoes and six doubles for the three- to four-and-a-half-hour slog. Some entrants simply wanted the additional mileage training for stamina and endurance improvement.
There was also a shorter 18km race which attracted another couple of dozen newer and less-fit paddlers. Most are striving for river race points towards A grade status in order to compete in major A grade river races later in the year; as well as the Dusi in February next year.
